The present disclosure relates generally to locating available parking spaces, and more particularly, to locating potentially available parking spaces within a geographic area and communicating the presence of the available parking spaces to a vehicle occupant.
The ever-increasing use of automobiles and limited space for parking, particularly in urban areas, has led to serious problems in parking management. It is often difficult to find reasonably priced parking spaces in a busy city. Street side parking spaces (i.e., metered and non-metered) typically represent a less expensive parking alternative than paying for garage parking, lot parking or valet parking. However, available street side parking spaces can be next to impossible to locate. The operator of the vehicle often wastes time driving around the area looking for an open space, or abandons the search, paying a large fee to park in a garage, or to use a valet parking space. It would be advantageous to be able to direct the operator of a vehicle to parking spaces (street side, parking garage, etc.) that are currently available in a specified geographic area.